


Target Practice

by RaggedRose



Category: Star Trek: Enterprise
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-03-13
Updated: 2006-03-13
Packaged: 2018-08-16 05:26:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8088925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RaggedRose/pseuds/RaggedRose
Summary: Reed and Hayes have a late-night practice session. (03/22/2004)





	

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Kylie Lee, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Warp 5 Complex](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Warp_5_Complex), the software of which ceased to be maintained and created a security hazard. To make future maintenance and archive growth easier, I began importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in August 2016. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but I may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Warp 5 Complex collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/Warp5Complex).

  
Author's notes: Spoilers, 3.15 "Harbinger," 3.17 "Hatchery."  


* * *

It had been another long day, and an even longer night. Malcolm Reed walked toward the gym. He was clad in sweats, a clean towel in his hand. He had finally given up the attempt to sleep and had decided on a late-night workout instead.

He'd been doing this a lot lately. The extra time in the gym had done him no harm, quite the opposite. He was probably in the best shape of his life. Considering their mission, this could only make him more effective at his job. Considering the presence of the MACOs and the ambitious man who led them, it also gave him a greater measure of job security.

Reed supposed he couldn't blame the man. Head of security in Earth's first high warp ship was a lot more than just a job. It was a position of historic significance. If chance had reversed their positions, he would probably be after the posting too. The problem was, Hayes had neither the training or, to put it bluntly, the intelligence for the job. There was a lot more to running his department than combat skills and battle readiness, especially out here in the Expanse.

Reed remembered how the two of them had incapacitated the alien that had recently been pulled from one of the anomalies. Hayes was good at what he did, there was no doubt about that. He was an exemplary soldier, but it had taken Reed's knowledge of Enterprise and her systems to save the ship that time. He remembered how the man had moved that time, and during the thrice-weekly training sessions the senior officers now attended.

It was exactly the sort of thing he didn't need to think about. Reed scowled and tried to think of anything else but the solid grace of Hayes, the sureness with which he moved.

Reed opened the door to the gym and stopped cold. He'd expected to have the place to himself at this hour. The last thing he'd expected was to walk in on Coles and Tucker, locked in a passionate kiss in front of the mirrored wall. He backed out quickly and shut the door before they could look up.

Coles opened her eyes as she heard the slight click of the latch. She caught a glimpse of Lieutenant Reed in the mirror before the door swung closed again. As the latch clicked shut, louder than it had opened, Tucker jumped and broke the kiss.

"What the—" He looked toward the door.

Cole stepped back. "Guess this isn't exactly the kind of exercise Lieutenant Reed was after."

"Malcolm?" Trip grinned sheepishly. "Oops." He hadn't meant to end up kissing Amanda, they'd come to the gym to work on the combination he hadn't been able to get right during the last training session. Somehow they'd moved on to other things.

Coles grinned back. "Oops." She tapped him lightly on the nose. "Guess we'd better get back to work." She fell lazily back into stance.

Tucker did the same. "Yeah." He'd hear it from Malcolm in the mess hall tomorrow, no doubt.

* * *

Reed stalked down the corridor, putting as much distance between him and the gym as possible. Damn them both! Coles should have known better, but perhaps that was the standard where she came from. She couldn't be blamed for finding Trip attractive, but the gym was certainly no place for it! Trip, however, was a senior officer! A very attractive, very unavailable senior officer, at least to some, Reed thought savagely. He tried to drive away the memory of the touch of those lips against his. It had been different once, or at least he'd fooled himself into thinking so. What an idiot he'd been to think that what had been between them was different. To Trip, what they'd shared had been no more than casual sex, and he'd tired of it. Reed didn't want to admit, not even to himself, just how much that had hurt. He didn't want to admit how much he needed some kind of physical outlet. It wasn't the way he saw himself. It wasn't the way a Reed behaved.

The problem was, so much of the discipline his father had instilled in him just didn't fit in with Starfleet's way of doing things. Yes, of course there were rules, but the atmosphere was one of relaxed professionalism, not military precision. Every officer was a highly educated specialist in his or her own right, and that fact made for a very different climate aboard ship. Reed hadn't realized just how different until the MACOs had come aboard.

Hayes was everything Reed had been raised to be. He expected—and got—unquestioning obedience from his team. Everything they did was by the book, no exceptions, and no excuses. Reed hadn't realized before just how limiting a mindset that was. In a combat situation, you had to react, and you had to do as you were ordered without question. Things out here were seldom so black and white, though. The incident with the Xindi hatchery was just one example of that. Hayes had followed Archer's orders, even when they were insane. Reed knew that he could never do that, should never do that when the safety of the ship was at stake. His job demanded far more. But he couldn't help admiring Hayes on some level. He even envied him his bedrock certainty. When Hayes did something, he did it all the way. No compromises, no excuses. Reed wondered what it would be like to have a lover who took that attitude in the bedroom.

God! Why did everything come back to that lately? Why couldn't he just resolve to go without it and leave it at that? It was almost more distracting to daydream about sex all the time than it had been to have it regularly. With Trip. A fellow officer and a good friend. Even now they still had that much. Even when Reed wanted to shove his head into the nearest bulkhead.

Reed realized that his steps had brought him to the armory practice room. Just as well, actually. He knew he would never be able to sleep now, and the gym was...occupied. And he could use all the practice with the MACO's simulation programs he could get. The similarity to video gaming programs still made him smile, but he had to admit, they were effective. He opened the door.

Hayes whipped around as the door opened. Automatically, the muzzle of his weapon dropped to point at the deck, Reed noted with grudging approval. Whatever his faults, the man was at least good at what he did.

"Sorry to disturb you, Major," he said. "I'll leave you to your practice."

"No, that's all right Lieutenant," Hayes said quickly. He crossed to the console and shut down the targets. "I'd like your input on this new routine, if you've got a minute." The lieutenant was in that same tight tank and baggy sweats, and Hayes was surprised at how much he wanted to keep him from leaving. He was playing with fire, he knew. The lieutenant liked men, a little discreet investigation had confirmed that hunch, but Reed was a stickler when it came to the regs. Technically, he was Hayes's superior. But if the rumors about Reed and Tucker were true, he'd crossed that line before.

"Varying your training routine, Major?" Reed came over to the console. It was well known that Hayes hadn't changed his regimen for the MACOs since they'd left Jupiter Station.

"Adding to it, sir." Hayes reset the simulation. "The things we're running into out here have given me some new ideas. I like to be prepared for anything."

Reed shot Hayes a measuring look. "So do I, Major."

Why did the guy always take everything he said as a challenge, Hayes wondered. He didn't allow the irritation he felt to reach his eyes, or his voice. "That's why I wanted to get your input, sir." That, and he knew a chance to head off any accusations of doing an end run around his superior again when he saw one.

Reed picked up a practice rifle and stepped to the line. "Any time you're ready, Major." At least this time he wouldn't be embarrassed in front of a room full of officers. With the extra practice time he'd been putting in since then, he might even surprise Hayes.

Hayes grabbed a rifle as well. "I haven't been able to try out the program with more than one person yet. I'd like to see us function less as individual marksmen and more as a team." He started the simulation and stepped to the line.

The targets appeared, and both men shot, scoring hits. More came into being, and Reed stepped sideways to shoot past Hayes. As the patterns grew more complicated, Reed realized that the targets were often appearing behind each of them, forcing them to work together. "Did you do this on purpose?" he asked.

"Yeah." Hayes kept his eyes moving, sidestepping to take a shot past Reed's shoulder. "I'm still working on getting the motion right." He fired again, and the target rang and disappeared.

Reed spotted a target just before it sped diagonally down to the deck. He pulled his shot, but Hayes was already moving to give him room. Reed tried to recover, but his shot slid past the metallic ball. It didn't seem to matter, not as it had before. He felt himself slide into the moment, felt himself connect with Hayes in a way they hadn't before as they began to fight together.

The balls disappeared as the simulation ended. Hayes went to the console. "Ten hits," he said. "Not bad for a first attempt. Of course, we can't separate out individual scores."

"That's not the point, now is it?" Reed said. "Interesting program, Major, it does have possibilities." He was happy to see Hayes smile. It wasn't an expression he saw on the major's face very often.

"It still needs a lot of work." Hayes made a couple of adjustments as he spoke. "Want to try it again?"

"Why not?" Reed was surprised to find himself beginning to enjoy the practice.

The second run was better than the first. By the third, Reed found himself thinking less and less, acting almost as one with Hayes. When it was over, they moved to the console together.

Hayes concentrated on the readouts. He couldn't help but notice that the lieutenant smelled good. Really good. The exertion had left both of them sweating, and in the light tank top, the muscles of Reed's upper arms glistened as if they'd been oiled. The practice had made him hyperaware of the other man, and Hayes didn't know if he hoped Reed would notice the connection he could feel between them or not. If it had been anyone else, Hayes wouldn't have hesitated to find out. But this was his superior, and they were going to be out here for a long time. "Fifteen hits. Not bad." He scooped up his rifle and went to put it in the rack, desperate to put some distance between them.

Reed found himself watching Hayes's tight backside as he walked across the room. He dropped his eyes quickly to the panel, before the other man noticed. This was completely inappropriate behavior, he told himself. But he could swear that he'd felt Hayes's eyes on him more than once this evening. A product of an overactive imagination, he told himself, and a dose of wishful thinking. His mind went back to the gym and to Coles and Trip, locked in each others' arms. To his horror he felt his face grow hot as he pictured himself and Hayes instead. He picked up his towel and buried his face in it, then toweled his hair.

Hayes turned and saw Reed's pink face emerge from the towel. "Not as much of a workout as you'd get in the gym, but not bad, huh?" He was surprised to see Reed's face go crimson. What the hell?

Reed draped the towel around his neck and picked up his rifle. "Yes. Not bad at all." He took his time racking the weapon, keeping his face turned away from Hayes until the heat had faded somewhat. "Thank you for the practice, Major, good night." He headed for the door.

"Was it something I said?" Hayes asked.

"What?" Reed stopped and turned to face Hayes.

"Lieutenant, we're going to be out here a long time." Hayes began. "Our people are going to have an easier time working together if we get along. Now it seemed to me that we were making up for a pretty rocky start just now. That is, until you decided to take off like this." Hayes knew he was on shaky ground, but he kept going. "If I said anything to offend you, I'd like to know what it was, sir."

Reed paused, fumbling for something to say. "It wasn't anything you did, Major." It was perfectly within his rights to simply leave. He didn't owe the man an explanation, and he could hardly tell him the truth, now could he? But he could feel the beginnings of respect, at the least, growing between them and he knew Hayes was right. He settled for a part of the truth. "Actually, I went to the gym before I came here. Tell me, Major, what are your thoughts on fraternization between your MACOs and the Enterprise crew?" He watched with something like satisfaction as the Major's eyes registered his confusion.

What the hell? Was Reed saying what he thought he was saying? Hayes settled for the safest way out. "Is there a problem?"

"I'm not sure," Reed said. "And I wasn't going to mention it, actually. But I found Coles and Tucker alone in the gym earlier." Reed stopped as he realized how prudish he sounded.

Hayes smiled, on safe ground again. "Did they have their clothes on?"

"Yes." Reed squirmed inwardly, then decided to brazen it out. "At least they did when I left," he said, smiling back at Hayes.

"Seems to me the fraternization regs don't apply to them," Hayes said. "Though the gym isn't exactly the best place to put on a show like that. I'll speak to Coles."

"That won't be necessary," Reed said quickly. "As I said, I wouldn't have mentioned it if you hadn't asked."

Hayes nodded. "It's nice to know what's going on. I appreciate your letting me know." Hayes paused, then went on, knowing he was taking yet another chance. "The fraternization regs were lifted from the old Earth armed forces. They were never meant to apply to crews and missions of this length."

"We can't exactly throw them out the airlock," Reed answered. What was the man getting at? "There has to be a certain standard of discipline, after all."

"There does," Hayes agreed. "And if any of my people get far enough out of line to make it necessary for me to take notice of their behavior, I'll come down on them like a ton of bricks." He paused, measuring the effect of his words on Reed. "But if the people in question aren't causing a problem, I don't see how it's anyone's business but theirs."

What Reed saw in Hayes's eyes made it hard for him to continue to tell himself that the attraction was one-sided, or that it was all in his imagination. "That's a rather enlightened attitude, Major."

"I'm learning a lot out here, Lieutenant." Hayes resisted the impulse to look Reed's body up and down.

"I think we all are, Major." Reed gave Hayes an appraising smile. "If you need any more help refining your simulation, let me know." Before he could think better of it, he gave a curt nod, then left the practice room.

Hayes stood there a moment, a smile playing around his lips. "Well I'll be damned," he said.


End file.
